UPDATE: Suspect in rape of elderly woman in SeaTac arrested Saturday

The King County Sheriff’s Office is reporting that the suspect in the brutal rape and assault of an 83-year old woman on Thursday, July 20 has been arrested (read our previous coverage here).

Police Officers from the University of Washington arrested the suspect without incident shortly after 9 p.m. on Saturday, July 22. The UW Officers contacted the man after being called by transit security regarding a male causing a disturbance on a light rail platform at the UW Station. When the officers contacted the man, they learned of the warrant that had been issued by the Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC) related to this case.

Detectives from the King County Sheriff’s Office Special Assault Unit as well as Patrol Officers and Detectives from the city of SeaTac worked tirelessly to identify a suspect from the time they first responded to this incident. A suspect was identified shortly after the incident and bulletins about the incident and the suspect were sent out to police agencies all around the region.

Detectives also worked closely with the DOC to get a warrant issued for the suspect, who had recently been released from prison after serving time for other violent crimes.

The suspect is a 41-year old male with a last known address in SeaTac. He is being held without bail at the King County Jail on the DOC warrant. His possible charges for this incident include rape, assault, and burglary. KCSO Detectives will be attempting to interview the suspect on Monday.

It is unknown what he was doing in the UW area.

HIGH-SPEED CHASE RELATED
Police add that also on Saturday (July 22) at around 8:15 p.m., Detectives and Deputies in SeaTac were in the 20000 block of International Boulevard looking for this suspect, when a Sergeant noticed a person matching his description. Before he could confirm it was him, the man jumped into the passenger side of a car with an acquaintance driving, and the vehicle fled.

Believing that this was indeed the rape suspect, Deputies from SeaTac pursued the vehicle north through the city. For a period of close to 10 blocks, the suspect vehicle was traveling northbound in the southbound lanes of International Blvd., and at one point clipped a car traveling southbound. Because of the danger to other innocent civilians on the road at the time, Deputies backed off and stayed in the northbound lanes, but still pursued the vehicle with the belief it contained the rape suspect. The vehicle eventually turned off of International Blvd and back into the proper lane of travel and Deputies resumed a much closer pursuit through the area of North SeaTac and into Burien. After approximately 5 miles, at the intersection of 24th Ave / Military Rd S, the vehicle collided with the passenger side of another car that had been traveling through the intersection.

Both the driver and the passenger in the suspect vehicle were arrested immediately after the accident. Both were treated at a local hospital for their injuries before being transported and booked into King County Jail. The driver faces charges of eluding as well as driving on a suspended license. It turned out that the passenger, whom Deputies had believed was the rape suspect, was not him. However, he was found to be in possession of drugs. He was booked for the drug charges. Deputies also believe that the suspects threw something out of the window during the pursuit, but they were unable to locate anything.

The driver of the other vehicle suffered only minor injuries but was taken to Harborview for precautionary reasons.

The driver of the vehicle clipped while southbound on International Blvd did not suffer any injuries.

Detectives from the King County Sheriff’s Office Major Accident Response & Reconstruction (MARR) are investigating to determine the speed at which the collision occurred.